Hang Snatch - Below Knees

🎯 Hamstrings🏋️ BarbellExpertCompoundAbdominals (2°)Calves (2°)Forearms (2°)Glutes (2°)Lower back (2°)Quadriceps (2°)Shoulders (2°)Traps (2°)

How to do the hang snatch - below knees

  1. Begin with a wide grip on the bar, with an overhand or hook grip. The feet should be directly below the hips with the feet turned out. Your knees should be slightly bent, and the torso inclined forward. The spine should be fully extended and the head facing forward. The bar should be just below the knees. This will be your starting position.
  2. Aggressively extend through the legs and hips. At peak extension, shrug the shoulders and allow the elbows to flex to the side.
  3. As you move your feet into the receiving position, forcefully pull yourself below the bar as you elevate the bar overhead. Receive the bar with your body as low as possible and the arms fully extended overhead.
  4. Return to a standing position with the weight overhead, and then return the weight to the floor under control.

Muscles worked

The prime movers are the hamstrings, which extend the hip and bend the knee, frequently at both joints in the same repetition.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the abdominals brace the trunk so force can pass between the hips and the shoulders; the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position; the forearms hold the grip, which is often what gives out first.

The glutes, lower back, quadriceps, shoulders and traps take a share of the work as well.

Every exercise for:HamstringsAbdominalsCalvesForearmsGlutes

How this movement works

The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.

It is filed under olympic weightlifting. The bar must move fast enough for you to get underneath it, which makes this a skill rather than a grind: low repetitions, well short of where fatigue starts editing technique.

What you need

A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.

Every exercise using:Barbell

These train the hamstrings too, using equipment this one does not:

Difficulty

Listed at expert level. It asks for range, stability or speed that takes time to build, and it punishes a rushed set-up much harder than an easier movement would.

Of the 86 hamstrings exercises in this database, 8 are listed at expert level.

Related exercises

Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →

ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.